This 1760 etching by Giuseppe Vasi shows the first architectural work (1625-30) by Pietro da Cortona;
the view was based on a drawing by the architect because when Vasi visited the site the roofs had collapsed,
the staircases were barely identifiable in the rubble and the fountains were dry; Vasi added to the etching a technical drawing of the main fountain.Pigneto means pinewood and the etching shows the casino surrounded by pine trees;
its location was rather remote, at the end of Valle dell'Inferno, a depression between the Vatican and Monte Mario; its name means Hell's Valley, but it is a corruption of vallis infera (low valley).
The small late XIXth century map below shows; 1) site of Casino Sacchetti; 2) Monte dei Ciocci; 3) S. Pietro; 4) Villa Mellini (Monte Mario).

The development of modern Rome has not completely obliterated the countryside aspect of the area between the Vatican and the site of the former Casino Sacchetti; the ruins of the building were removed after 1861 when the property was bought by the Torlonia.

The Casino was commissioned by Giulio Sacchetti at the time of his appointment as cardinal as the
possession of a countryside villa was regarded as necessary for a man in his new position; he also bought the palace named after him in via Giulia; this building had a garden along the river which was decorated with fountains in 1660; it is possible that the family lost interest in their remote villa and preferred to entertain their guests in the city palace. It seems that the casino was completely abandoned after the death in 1705 of Cardinal Urbano Sacchetti, nephew of Giulio.
In 1861 the vast property was bought by the Torlonia, who almost surrounded urban Rome with their possessions; they restored and placed their coats of arms on two existing buildings; one of them is falling apart, while the other was in recent years turned into the public library of a modern neighbourhood.

The name of this small hill and of Casale Ciocci, a former farmhouse, are a corruption of Ciocchi (It. chi = kee; It. ci = tchee) del Monte, the family of Pope Julius III to whom the area belonged in the XVIIth century; the hill was spared intensive development because it houses an agricultural high school.